We start off a new era of Raw with a new visual of the two main event combatants arriving, then a new set. It’s a new day, indeed.
Cody Rhodes opens things up in the arena. he wants to talk about Little Rock, finishing his story and other such stuff. He doesn’t talk about his newly-dyed gray hair though before Drew McIntyre makes his way out.
McIntyre places nicey nicey to start and recalls when they were tag team champions and their parallel lives outside WWE during their exiles. Drew says he’s going to finish his story before Cody will.
Dialogue continues and goes into Jey Uso and CM Punk, as well as Damian Priest and his briefcase. The niceities, by this point are over. Seeds planted for a rivalry.
R-Truth is confronted by Damian Priest and the result is good. I admit it. I thought this was crap when it started but Priest and Truth are making it work, even if they’re dragging it kicking and screaming.
J-Day vs. DIY
DumbDumb and JD are repping their crew.
Mat wrestling to start, not something we normally see in a tag match. Gargano hits the ropes to fly to the outside but Dom pulls it down. Soon all four are in the outside but the faces get the better of it going into the break.
Coming back to action, Ciampa and JD collide in a scary spot. Fortunately it isn’t serious. DIY takes over on JD quickly. but Gargano is quickly victimized. Dom looks more ridiculous than ever, I’m just saying.
Heels take over and this is getting bad. Blind referee means a tag to Ciampa is missed. Always hated that spot.
Oh and to the mark who had the “I shovelled so much snow to be here” sign in the crowd, mazel tov. Guess what we do in Canada just about every damn day of the winter.
Match is going very long, which is not a good thing for a DumbDumb match. Ciampa is hitting clothesline after clothesline on everyone moving coming out of our second break. Scorpion Deathdrop gets two. JD escapes FTE and tags DumbDumb who hits the Eddy Hilo and that’s where I stop watching. Yes, I’m going back to this. Shame too, it was a pretty good match.
Meet in the Middle finishes it.
Winners: DIY
Backstage time! Indi! Candice! Chelsea! Piper! ADAMMMMM!
Chelsea Green/Piper Niven vs. The Way
Piper fires off on Indi to start including a nice shoulder breaker. Heels continue to do the most damage until Indi takes over on Chelsea on the apron briefly. Piper misses the Vader Bomb and Candice comes in for a heat segment that draws little reaction. Match devolves quickly into a clusterfrick. Assisted Lionsault gets the win for Indi and Candice but this match was a mess.
Winners: The Way
More backstage time! J-Day hawking tee shirts!
Gunther is back next. Decent promo where he declares for the Royal Rumble. Gunther then starts in on Ludwig Kaiser for last week’s absolute decimation of Kofi Kingston and applauds the effort until New Day music plays and Xavier Woods returns. Segment quickly goes downhill. Once Woods and Kaiser agree to a match, the face tees off. Boring.
Xavier Woods vs. Ludwig Kaiser
Boring stuff which is saying a lot, because Kaiser is quickly becoming my favourite in WWE. Woods needs a character change in the worst way.
Kaiser cuts off Woods at every pass Woods goes to his standard stuff but Kaiser is way too dominant. Nice spot as Woods is hanging in the Tree of Woe on the outside and eats floor after a Dropkick from Kaiser. We go to an unnecessary break. This pair does not deserve two segments!
Back from break Woods gets his outside-in Tornado DDT. Woods paintbrushes Kaiser with punches and chops, but busted his lip up at some point. On the outside, Kaiser chucks a chair at Woods, who ducks it. He then picks up the chair and slams it down on Kaiser for the BSDQ.
Winner by DQ: Ludwig Kaiser
Post match, Woods goes for the steel chair but eats an enziguri’d steel chair to the face. Kaiser is looking better and better each week. Seriously. Start appreciating this man. Woods meanwhile starts to show intensity as he counters Kaiser but he’s just too goofy. The blood dripping in his mouth is a nice touch though.
For Part Two click the link below:
Back to the backstage. Bronson is boring!
More backstage as Woods is attacked by Kaiser until Jey Uso shows up. Kaiser rocks.
Back to ringside we get a hype package for the main event match.
Ivar vs. Tozawa
What did I do to deserve this match yet again. I can’t. I just can’t.
Spinning Powerslam by Ivar nearly killed Tozawa. He goes up for the Moonsault and is distracted by Maxxine. Tozawa takes advantage and hits the Corner Bomb to get the pin. THIS IS CRAP!
Winner: Tozawa
Post match, Valhala attacks Maxxine, finishing her with a Pop-up Headbutt. Tozawa is victimized by Ivar in the interim and eats the Doomsault. Hit him again! End this!
Backstage! Diamond Mine! Alpha Academy!
Rhea is out next to a huge pop. I think it’s understated just how hot an act she is right now.
Rhea orates until Becky Lynch comes out. Good segment as the two basically call their collective shot to face each other at WrestleMania. All that has to happen is Becky wins the Rumble, or alternately the winner chooses Iyo.
Backstage, Seth Rollins chats with Jackie Redmond.
J-Day vs. Awesome Truth
Truth comes out with J-Day, represented by Priest and Balor for this match.
Money is shared by Truth with J-Day as their cut of tee shirt profits. Timewasting.
Balor and Truth start the match and it’s a bit ugly, but Truth, unlike Tozawa, makes comedy work.
Second segment, again. There must’ve been travel issues.
Priest tags in very reluctantly, takes one move and tags out to Balor. Hot tag to Miz who goes off on J-Day. Miz shows off some really good stuff, just as he’s done over the last couple months. Kinda reminiscent of Cena in his late US Title run. Hanging Codebreaker gets two.
Miz goes for SCF but misses. Tags in Truth who hits a Scissor Kick on Balor. Priest takes out Balor and then Priest and Truth square off. The two argue until Priest hits South of Heaven on Truth. Balor, the legal man, crawls into the cover. Priest looks conflicted. Good storytelling here.
Winners: J-Day
Backstage, Jinder meditates before the big match. Fantastic promo by Mahal here with a veiled reference to Tony Khan’s BS.
Before our next match, Shinsuke Nakamura appears in a video, saying the story between him and Cody isn’t over.
Zoey Stark / Shayna Baszler vs. Tegan Nox / Natalya
Nox is face in peril to start. tries to fight away from the corner but Baszler hits a nice high knee. It gets two. Natalya breaks up the pin but ends up on the outside for her effort.
Tegan starts to fight back enough to get the tag to Nattie while Stark comes in. Nattie takes over big time, including hitting a very nice release German. Stark goes for the Z360 but can’t hit it. Cluster starts soon after and it breaks down. Shiniest Wizard gets two on Shayna. They then try the Hart Attack and… god this is so crappy I don’t want to describe it. It all ends with Baszler getting a choke on NAttie for the win.
Winners: Bazler/Stark
Seth Rollins vs. Jinder Mahal (World Title Match)
Indus Sher is out with Mahal.
Back-and-forth to start that ends up on the outside. Sher catches Rollins’ attention while Damian Priest wanders out with his briefcase as we go to break, hopefully for the last time.
Back to action, Rollins hits a Pedigree but comes up lame with his knee. Slow cover gives Veer the opportunity to save his sensei. Rollins goes for the splash but Mahal moves in time.
Priest is shown thinking of a cash-in but Drew McIntyre appears and takes him out.
Interference makes this match go cluster in a hurry. Various ref distractions, implements and such lead to Mahal hitting the Kalas… for two.
Sher gets up on the apron and argue with the ref. They’re tossed out of the ringside. Distraction gives Rollins enough time to recover and changes a Kalas attempt into a Stomp for the duke.
Winner: Seth Rollins
Until next time, Stay classy.
